YNAB You Need A Budget

[ghgr]

Just purchased YNAB3. I entered my starting balance on Mar. 3rd. My up to date checking balance, that I entered, is 600. When I go to the budget tab and enter my budget amounts I am in the red by about 4500. I get paid on the 5th and 20th and my wife is paid on the 15th and 30th. My income is hourly so it fluctuates, but I am able to closely calculate what I will make on each pay check and my wife is on salary so, I know exactly what her checks will be. My question is, do I stick with my actual up to date balance and add income as it comes in? Or, do I enter the amount of income that we are going to get? Right now, we have our bills set up to be paid according to the dates above and pay them as each check comes in. Should we keep doing it this way with YNAB? And how do we set that up? If that's the case. We have no buffer yet and want to work towards it. Thanks for any help.

[woodnboats]

Sounds like you budgeted money you don't have yet, and you don't have a Buffer either.

No Problem!! At least you got started. To answer your immediate question, I'd just budget what you have now toward those Categories where you will need to make payments before your next check comes in. Budget it all down to zero, and don't worry yet about what will come out of the next check. If you've got all the bills covered, and still have some left, budget that to the next priorities after the next check is due.

Then when that check comes in Categorize it as Available This Month, and revisit your Budget, Budgeting down to zero again, prioritizing toward the expenses you expect to have to meet before the check after that comes in. Keep doing this until the First of April. If you are lucky, you'll have some left over which can be used to start budgeting for April. Eventually, if you NEVER spend more than you budget (and you can move money around in your budget from Category to Category, or even unBudget it and let YNAB carry it over for you to next month), you will build a Buffer and will be living by Rule One, which, like Rome wasn't built in a day (or even a month).

Meantime, follow these links and pick out some free teaching aids:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/ynab-coaching/
http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/tutorials/

Good luck, and come back here often,

Kirk

[ghgr]

Thanks Kirk. So, if I understand you correctly and excuse me if I come across to you as slow, I just want to make sure I'm getting this right, you are saying that we should go with our actual balance and pay our bills, just as we did before, as our pay checks come in and budget for the bills we usually do with each check, then, if we have money left over, budget that toward bills we usually would pay with the next incoming check until we are down to zero. Right? And, we keep doing this until we have a buffer? Thanks again for your time.

Glenn

[woodnboats]

That's about it. During this process you will be a) hopefully building a buffer, and b) getting a feeling for what your budgeting needs are. If you haven't done so (and you really don't have enough data in YNAB yet to make it meaningful), right-click on a Budget field and you will see a number of choices for filling the field, such as using the last month's budget figure, the average of the last three months, etc. Down the road you will be able to set up your budget for the month quickly, and know where your money goes. Don't be afraid to play Whack-a-Mole, that is move money around in the budget when you find you must spend more in a Category. Just be sure to take it from some other Category so that you are always budgeting (and spending) money that you actually have.

Kirk